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Twang
|description = Pull back the elastic world to roll and twang the hero to the end flag.}} Twang is a platform game that Nitrome released for MTV Arcade in 2007. The player helps the main character, Black Ball, cross a magic ocean with the various colored lines that appear in each of the 25 levels. ---- Controls Click mouse button on line faces - move lines around. Levels Twang has 25 levels. Each level involves the player trying to get Black Ball to the end of the level by moving lines. Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Secret room Level 7 Level 8 Intended way Unintended way (water wheel passed via glitch) Level 9 Intended way Alternative way Level 10 Level 11 Level 12 Level 13 Level 14 Level 15 Level 16 Level 17 Level 18 Level 19 Level 20 Level 21 Level 22 Level 23 Level 24 Level 25 Intended way to complete the level: Unintended, quicker way to win the level: Ending Enemies *'Jetpack pirates' - Hovers in the air *Walking alligators - These enemies walk on lines. Despite walking on lines, some lines they walk on the player can move *Blue monkeys - Monkeys that hang on lines *Missiles - Travels straight, damages the player on contact Lines :Main article: Lines (Twang) Lines can usually be moved by holding the heads and moving them with the mouse. Using these, the player can move Black Ball around. Some of them have certain abilities. * Red lines - Can be stretched in all directions * Blue lines - Cannot be stretched, spinning in some stages * Cyan lines - Cyan lines cannot be stretched, but moving one causes all the cyan lines connected to it to also move * Purple lines - These lines can be inserted into holes * Green lines - When the player stretches these, Black Ball is flung extra high * Orange lines - These lines disappear for a short amount of time, then become solid, infinitely repeating this * Ghost lines - These lines cannot be interacted with by the player, but enemies walk on them * Finish line - Black ball's primary target, which will end the level once it reaches the line Interactive objects * Stars - can be collected for points * Thumper bumpers - Black ball just bumps back from bumpers when hitting them Hazards * Magic ocean - Kills Black Ball if it gets in it * Blue electric spheres - Moves on wires and can harm Black Ball Development Throughout its development, Twang went through several major redesigns having to do with the background colour of the game. Background features included some red tones, which were then changed to purple shades.Nitrome blog post: Memory Lane - Twang! posted 14 Feb 2012 Twang-design-1.png|Design Image 1 Twang-design-2.png|Design Image 2 Twang-design-3.png|Design Image 3 Twang-design-4.png|Design Image 4 Awards |Flash Forward Film FestivalNitrome blog: - Flash Forward Nominations |2008 |Flash Forward Film Festival - Games |Peoples choice | Nitrome blog: - Twang wins an award! |- |Jay is Games |2008 |Jay is Games Best of Casual Gameplay 2007 |Action or Arcade game (Browser games) of 2007 | |} Beta elements Twang contains three unused objects: possible placeholder text, an arrow, and an unused interactive object. Text The placeholder text appears as an image that reads "fdasfdas", which is not an actual word bit gibberish.It is likely that this would have been used as text placed on a hovering sign where no text has been assigned, or text is planned to be assigned. File:TW1.png|The unused text Arrow The second unused object is a simple arrow that is not drawn like any other object in the game. This arrow is identified internally as "background auto scrolling", this likely meaning it is an arrow that causes the screen to automatically scroll on the menu, or to automatically scroll the background when the player moves to the edge of the screen. File:TW2.png|The arrow File:TW9.png|The arrow identified as "background auto scrolling" (sprite 325) Motor The final unused object appears as a black ball that has a white circle on it, and in this circle being an isosceles triangle that points either left or right, in the direction it is pointing being an arrow either at the top-right (if pointing right) or top-left (if pointing left) side of the ball. Six sprites exist for this object, three for each direction. All three sprites are the same for each direction, except that the first, second, and third sprite have one, two, and three triangles (respectively) for both the sphere and the corner of the sphere. Internally, this object is identified as "Motor", this name given by the only animation in the game for it, as all other images are still images. Considering how this object is circular, and the only other spherical object in Twang is a thumper bumper that is interacted with by touching it, it seems as though that Black Ball would have interacted with Motors by colliding with one. TW10.png|The object named as "Motor" (sprite 483) However, no sprite exists in Twang for it being hit, unlike how the thumper bumper has an image that is used for it being hit. Furthermore, no other transparent image exists in Twang that could be placed over the Motor to show that it has been hit when it is hit, possibly showing that this object was cut from the game early in development. The Motor likely would have functioned as an object that would change the speeds of moving objects, such as moving lines (as is seen in later levels). The presence of sideways triangles placed in front of each other in a straight line further supports this, as triangles placed in ways such as these are commonly used for buttons that increase speed. Only one sprite of this exists, that sprite going through all versions of the Motor. One, two, and three triangles may have been used to indicate slow, medium, and fast (respectively), or one triangle may indicate regular speed and more triangles may indicate faster speeds. It is possible that Motors are in fact used, but placed off screen so the player cannot see them, as adjustable speeds likely would have been exploited by the player in order to get past difficult sections that use these objects, and these objects could be adjusted in a level editor to determine the movement of objects. A possibility for them being cut was possibly that no good use could be found for them, or they could be easily exploited by the player to get past difficult sections that use these objects. Trivia * Canopy has elements from Twang and the Chisel series. * If the player presses quit during a level, when they are returned to the main menu the in-game music will continue and the menu music will not play. Gallery Twang_title_screen2.jpg|Twang's title screen References Category:Games Category:MTV Arcade games Category:Platform games Category:2007 games Category:Games with music by Lee Nicklen Category:Programming by Chris Burt-Brown Category:Beta Category:Art by Jon Annal Category:Art by Mat Annal Category:Music by Lee Nicklen Category:Level-based games Category:Browser games